Experimenting
by Mutare Electri
Summary: "What, exactly..." he sloshed the liquid around pointedly, "does this do?" She shrugged. "It'll make you feel better. You have to drink all of it though, or else it won't work." He felt like his question hadn't exactly been answered, but he decided that he didn't care. He'd just do it and find out on his own.


**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize does not belong to me.**

**Hello everyone. This idea literally came out of nowhere. I was pouring cereal into a bowl and it just popped into my head. Yeah. Weird...**

**Anyway, this is a lot darker than it seems. I have dropped hints here and there for you to find. I feel like I've made it pain-stakingly obvious, but... Oh well. :D Have fun.**

Zim stared down at the suspitious-looking liquid in disgust, seeing his own magenta-eyed reflection in it's depths.

"Scared?"

He glanced up at the owner of the voice. She was a rather small female for her age, but Zim knew better than to underestimate her. She was looking at him with her rarely seen golden colored eyes, nearly hidden by her dark makeup. Her spikey violet hair made her all the more sinister, dispite the fact that she was sitting on the floor cross-legged with a red solo cup in her hand. She was smirking at him.

He huffed. "No" he spat, looking back down at the liquid in his own cup. "I'm just... thinking."

Gaz tilted her head to the side questioningly, though her face stayed expressionless. "About what?" she asked. He shrugged, seeing his mirror image do the same.

"Just... What, exactly..." he sloshed the liquid around pointedly, "does this _do?" _

She blinked and looked down at her own, holding it up to her face as she inspected it herself. She shrugged her narrow shoulders. "It'll make you feel better. You have to drink all of it though, or else it won't work."

He felt like his question hadn't exactly been answered, but he decided that he didn't care. He'd just do it and find out on his own.

He looked at her for a while as she inspected her cup. He wasn't looking at her in disgust or detestment, he was just... looking. And wondering. What had happened to her to make her want to do this? This was considered 'bad' on this planet, especially at her age, so why would she want to risk being caught in order to _do_ it? What was going on in her mind? Probably close to the same as what was going on in his. Just tired and bored, hoping for something new and better. But still...

He cleared his throat, making her look up at him. "Won't... won't your family unit wonder where you are?" he asked, sythe-like anteannas raising slightly in curiosity.

They were, after all, not at home. They were on the second floor of an old abandoned warehouse that Gaz had apparently been to a few times. It was falling down and decrepit, the once white painted walls peeling away to reveal the grainy cement underneath. It wasn't exactly the kind of place parents would want their children to be.

Gaz shook her head, face still set in her signature impassive expression as she picked a stray paint flake off of her black hoodie. "No. I left them a note so they'll know I'm gone. They probably won't notice. Dib might, but he's used to me disappearing. And Dad's never home, so he won't care."

Zim noticed her slightly darkened tone at that last sentence. 'Ah,' he thought to himself, 'that's why she's out here, doing this. Angry at her father and her annoying sibling.' He didn't voice his opinion, however. Instead he just nodded, keeping his eyes on his cup. Gaz's snort made him look back up.

"What about yours?" she asked with a smirk, as if knowing it would bother him. She raised an eyebrow. "Won't _your_ family wonder where you are?"

He curled his lip at the word. "Zim has no pathetic family unit, Dib-female" he spat in disgust, though she just shook her head with her smirk still on her face. He knew she was reffering to his two robotic companions and his computer. He raised his chin. "They're nothing but servants, and they can bearly be called _that! _Let alone _family_..." He shook his head. "No, they won't wonder where I am. I told them I'd be gone, but they... just ignored me." Gaz watched his anteannas lower with a raised eyebrow. Little did he know, she had just found out why he was here as well. Only partually, but she still got the main idea.

"What about your leaders? Aren't you supposed to... update them, or something?" she asked, pushing the subject.

He hunched his shoulders, grinding his teeth and narrowing his ruby eyes. "Zim doesn't want to talk about them." She blinked at the bluntness but shrugged, getting her answer. Ignored by friends, hated by his planet. Seems valid enough.

"Okay" she replied monotonously, proud of how blank her voice sounded. She glanced down, feeling as if there was nothing else to be said. It was quiet for a second and they were left to their thoughts. Deciding that she didn't really like hers, she glanced up at Zim. He was still hunched up, maroon eyes focused on the liquid in his cup. He was sitting cross-legged as she was, holding the cup in his lap with his triple-digited gloved hands. His light green face was darkened in anger and maybe even a little hurt. She never thought she would be doing this with an alien, let alone the alien nemisis of her brother. But at least they had some common ground. Besides, she prefered him in his natural form, rather than that stupid disguise of his. It was... natural, she supposed.

After deciding that he wasn't enjoying his thoughts either, she raised her cup slightly. "You ready?" she asked suddenly, making him jump. He looked up at her, pupil-less eyes wide. He blinked at her cup, then looked back at his. He held his up to his face a little, peering down into it's depths. He swallowed, anteannas lowering.

She saw this and felt a small pang of some emotion she wasn't used to. She didn't like it, but felt that she needed to say something. It wasn't her choice to make, after all.

"Zim" she said softly, making him glance up at her tone. She looked at him seriously, and he was able to see both of her eyes. She looked him in the eye. "You know you can back out any time you want, right? No one is forcing you."

He blinked at her sincerity. She could see the gears turning in his head as he thought behind his eyes. But then he shook his head, looking away. "No, Zim is not going to back out. I..." His face hardened and he looked back at his cup, raising it a little. "I want to do this."

She smiled a little at that and shrugged. "Well, I was just throwing that out there, just so you know. You can whenever you want, _if_ you want."

He shook his head and repositioned himself, indirectly telling her that he wasn't going anywhere. She nodded with a careless shrug. "Alright" she said.

She took a breath and raised her cup high, looking at him with a smile. He blinked at her and did the same, not sure why she was doing it but not really caring anyway. Her smile turned into a smirk. "Any last words?" she asked him.

He tilted his head in thought. _Was_ there anything he wanted to say? After a few seconds he shook his head, face darkening. "No." He had nothing to say that he hadn't said before. He looked at her. "Do you?"

She raised an eyebrow and glanced at the cement floor for a second in thought. Then she looked up at him. There was a second of silence before she shook her head. "Nope." She looked back up at him, smiling a little bit. "You ready?" she asked again.

He gulped but nodded. She nodded back, then gently tapped the brim of her cup against his. He had no idea what that meant, but he didn't question it. She smirked. "Let's do this" she said.

They both brought the cups to their mouths and paused, looking a eachother. The moment of truth. Neither one said anything, so she went on. "Together, okay?" she said. He nodded. "Okay." She took a breath, and raised her cup a little more. "On three." Zim waited, eyes locked on her.

"One." They raised their cups, eyes still on eachother.

"Two." They raised them a little more. The silence seemed to stretch in the tension.

"Three." They looked eachother dead in the eye, and tilted the cups all the way up.

Zim squoze his eyes shut and forced himself to swallow the liquid without gagging. It was cold and had a sharp pang to it. He didn't like it. He didn't like it at all. After a few more swallows they both lowered the empty cups. Both had disgusted looks on their faces. It left a bitter taste in his mouth that burnt slightly. He shuddered and his face twisted as they set the cups down at their sides. They put their hands in their lap and sat in silence, staring at the floor.

Zim waited for something, anything to show that it was working. But still, nothing came. He raised an anteanna and looked up at his human companion in confusion. "Nothings happening" he said, feeling the taste still in his mouth.

She nodded and held up her index finger. "Wait for it" she replied quietly. "It'll come."

He did as he was told and waited. And waited. And waited. Nothing was happening. He opened his mouth, about to complain again, when his breath caught. He felt a small twinge of pain in his mid-section. He put a hand to it with a look of discomfort on his face. It went away, but was quickly followed by a sharper pain that stayed. He winced and glanced down. His eyes widened when he saw that his arm was shaking. He held both of his hands out in front of him, shocked to see that both were trembling as if they were freezing. It wasn't that cold in the warehouse, so he knew it wasn't from the temperature. He blinked as his whole body started to shake and his throat constricted. He gasped for air, feeling fear rise up in his chest. He glanced up at Gaz with wide eyes, starting to sweat.

She too was trembling, holding her arms. Sweat rolled down her forehead and she was gasping as he was. "G-Gaz?" he forced out through his chattering teeth. She glanced up at him and he was terrified to see that her pupils were dilated, the black so wide that her golden irises were a mere ring around her pupil. She stared at him for a second, then smiled again. But this one wasn't mocking or teasing, as the others were. This one looked almost sad.

"'S okay, Zim-m" she whispered, shuddering. "Just... just lay down." She leaned to the side and rested on the floor, looking at him as she trembled. "It'll b-be... over in-n a m-minute."

He watched her shake for a second and she closed her eyes. His spooch ached even worse and his tremors got so violent that he decided to join her on the floor. The cement was cold and it seemed to fill him with it's iceyness. Whether it was actually from the floor or his symptoms, he didn't know. He curled up, clutching his midsection and letting out a quiet whimper. His tried to look at Gaz again, but his vision started swimming and she faded in and out of focus, nothing but blobs of purple and black. He covered his eyes with his hands, waiting for it to stop. He was scared.

'Remember, you _wanted_ this. You can't back out now, you're too late anyway.'

He heard a voice say that, but he wasn't sure if it was actually someone speaking or if it was in his own head. He decided that it didn't matter either way. It _was_ too late.

He removed his hands from his face and looked at Gaz again. His eyes were tearing up, but he was able to see her clear enough. She was shuddering and tears were running down her face as she gasped. Her eyes slid open and she met his gaze. They stared at eachother for a second as the poison seeped further into their bloodstream. Strange to think that they would be the last people they would ever see. But, they realized as their eyes met, they wouldn't have it be anyone else.

They bearly knew eachother, but in that second they understood eachother better than anyone ever had.

Gaz smiled.

And, for the first time, Zim smiled back.

A tremor hit him and he closed his eyes in pain. But, he slowly realized, it didn't hurt as bad. There was something after it, a kind of numbness he had never experienced before. It was... peaceful. He knew what it was. He had been wishing for it for so long, and now it was finally coming for him. And he wasn't going alone.

He opened his eyes and looked at Gaz again. His vision was hazy and was wavering slightly, darkening around the edges. But he could see her.

'Thank you, Gaz' he thought, ignoring the fact that white foam was running out of her mouth and her eyes were rolled into the back of her head as she jerked. He spasmed as well, feeling the same foam run out of his throat. His vision darkened almost entirely, the numbness taking over him. His eyes rolled back.

'Thank you.'

Finally the darkness claimed him for it's own and he let it take him away.

**Yeah. I'm a bad person. Oh well. Thanks for reading!**


End file.
